Goose Consommé with goose liver Spätzle

For the consommé I use the freeze/thaw method that I first read about in Heston Blumenthal "The fat Duck Cookbook" and saw on one of his TV programmes. It has also been discussed in great detail on various websites, I have also used it and published this on this blog previously when I made a Game consommé with hare liver Spätzle.

Ingredients:

1 goose carcass (or bits and pieces, like neck, crops, wings)

2 dsp. of Goose fat

2 carrots

1 piece of celeriac

1 leek white only

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 bay leaves

5 juniper berries

10 allspice berries

½ tsp of mace

1 sprig of rosemary

2 tsp of vegetable stock powder

1 tsp of dried thyme

1 tsp of cumin  seeds

3 ltr water

2 table spoons of port

1 tsp of fresh picked thyme leaves

Peel and chop the root vegetables, cut the onion into quarters, and put into a roasting tin, put the goose pieces etc. on top pour over a couple of spoons of goose fat over the top, grind over plenty of black pepper and dust with sea salt, put into a hot oven and roast for 20 minutes.

In the meantime put the spices, herbs etc. into the pressure cooker pour over the water and bring to the boil. 

When the goose bones and vegetables are suitably browned, pour into the pressure cooker, bring to a rolling boil and skim off any scum and fat that rises and , lid on and bring up to the pressure (highest).

Pour all of the roasted bones and veg

Cook for 30 minutes and then allow to cool. Remove the lid and pour all though a fine sieve into a clean container. Discard the solid matter and allow the liquid to cool.  Put the cooled stock into the deep freeze. When the stock is solid (overnight), remove from the freezer, scrape off any fat that is solid on top and filter.

 I do this by lining a long sieve with a double layer of muslin, I filter into the same container (washed) that I had frozen the stock in. Allow the frozen block to drip, drip, drip into the container, depending on the quantity and temperature it will take anything between 8 and 18 hours ,overnight is good  for two reasons, 1 it will be ready for the next morning and 2 you will not be likely to fiddle with it. Do not be tempted to prod and poke it as this will loosen up the residue/sludge and it could cloud the consommé. I stop filtering when it reaches the position of 5mm thick of frozen. Remove the whole filter complete with contents, how you dispose of this is your problem, but washing the muslin straight away in very hot water is a must as otherwise it sticks like glue.

Allow to thaw overnight

Discard the sludge

The consommé is now almost ready; you just need to add the port and the fresh thyme leaves, I tested it was clear by heating a little and testing it, wink, wink nudge, nudge, well you can't have your guests drinking any old muck.

I was making a goose liver spätzle consommé so next was the making of the Spätzle.

Ingredients:

75g goose liver (or as in this case the liver from the goose which just happened to weigh 75g)

1 large egg

Scraping of nutmeg

100g plain flour

½ tsp of salt

A small pinch of white pepper

1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves

1 table spoon of mineral water (I use an egg cup that is spot on a table spoon)

Put the flour, nutmeg and salt into a mixing bowl, add the egg and mix with a wooden spoon, when the egg is incorporated into the flour and salt (it will look a bit lumpy but that doesn't matter) now slowly add the water a little at a time (it is little so that isn't too difficult)

Purée the liver (most recipes say put it through a mincer, rubbish use a magic wand, quicker, easier to clean).

Add this to the batter and beat until bubbles rise and hold their form,stir in the thyme and pepper. Cover and allow to stand for at least 30 mins.

When ready to make your spätzle (they can be made well in advance), put a pan of  stock (or salted water, I used chicken stock) on to a rolling boil and have a pan with cold water and a sieve ready.

Have your spätzle board ready, this should be wet, put a good dollop (about 10cm dia) onto the board and with a long knife (or a palate knife) smooth the batter towards the rear of the board, now in quick forward movements scrape a thin roll of the batter into the stock (some will be thicker than others it matters not one jot). 

When all of the batter on the board is used, wait until the spätzle rise to the surface scoop out with a slotted spoon and place in the cold water to stop the cooking (too much cooking and they are likely to go a bit rubbery). Remove from the water and drain; these are now ready to add to the consommé. Repeat until all of your batter is used up.

You can at this point reduce the consommé even more, by boiling vigorously, but I found it was sufficient goosy.

Place the spätzle back into the pan of stock that they had been cooked in and warm through, bring your consommé to just below boiling and place a tablespoonful of spätzle into each soup plate, and ladle over the hot consommé, serve immediately with some crusty bread or baguette.

Bit wiggly but the table wouldn't hold still